Water content of primitive low-K tholeiitic basalt magma from Iwate Volcano,NE Japan arc: implications for differentiation mechanism of frontal-arc basalt magmas

The water content of low-K tholeiitic basalt magma from Iwate volcano, which is located on the volcanic front of the NE Japan arc, was estimated using multi-component thermodynamic models. The Iwate lavas are moderately porphyritic, consisting of ~8 vol.% olivine and ~20 vol.% plagioclase phenocrysts. The olivine and plagioclase phenocrysts show significant compositional variations, and the Mg# of olivine phenocrysts (Mg#78–85) correlates positively with the An content of coexisting plagioclase phenocrysts (An_85–92). The olivine phenocrysts with Mg# > ~82 do not form crystal aggregates with plagioclase phenocrysts. It is inferred from these observations that the phenocrysts with variable compositions were primarily derived from mushy boundary layers along the walls of a magma chamber. By using thermodynamic calculations with the observed petrological features of the lavas, the water content of the Iwate magma was estimated to be 4–5 wt.%. The high water content of the magma supports the recent consensus that frontal-arc magmas are remarkably hydrous. Using the estimated water content of the Iwate magma, the water content and temperature of the source mantle were estimated. Given that the Iwate magma was derived from a primary magma solely by olivine fractionation, the water content and temperature were estimated to be ~0.7 wt.% and ~1,310 °C, respectively. Differentiation mechanisms of low-K frontal-arc basalt magmas were also examined by application of a thermodynamics-based mass balance model to the Iwate magma. It is suggested that magmatic differentiation proceeds primarily through fractionation of crystals from the main molten part of a magma chamber when it is located at <~200 MPa, whereas magma evolves through a convective melt exchange between the main magma and mushy boundary layers when the magma body is located at >~200 MPa.     

Aerodynamic Parameters of Urban Building Arrays with Random Geometries

It is difficult to describe the flow characteristics within and above urban canopies using only geometrical parameters such as plan area index (λ _p ) and frontal area index (λ _f ) because urban surfaces comprise buildings with random layouts, shapes, and heights. Furthermore, two types of ‘randomness’ are associated with the geometry of building arrays: the randomness of element heights (vertical) and that of the rotation angles of each block (horizontal). In this study, wind-tunnel experiments were conducted on seven types of urban building arrays with various roughness packing densities to measure the bulk drag coefficient (C _d ) and mean wind profile; aerodynamic parameters such as roughness length (z _o ) and displacement height (d) were also estimated. The results are compared with previous results from regular arrays having neither ‘vertical’ nor ‘horizontal’ randomness. In vertical random arrays, the plot of C _d and z _o versus λ _f exhibited a monotonic increase, and z _o increased by a factor of almost two for λ _f = 48–70%. C _d was strongly influenced by the standard deviation of the height of blocks (σ) when λ _p ≥ 17%, whereas C _d was independent of σ when λ _p = 7%. In the case of horizontal random arrays, the plot of the estimated C _d against λ _f showed a peak. The effect of both vertical and horizontal randomness of the layout on aerodynamic parameters can be explained by the structure of the vortices around the blocks; the aspect ratio of the block is an appropriate index for the estimation of such features.     

Oceanic Rossby waves induced by the meridional shift of the ITCZ in association with ENSO events

This study investigated the eastern Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) as an atmospheric forcing to the ocean by using various observed and reanalysis data sets over 29 years. Climatologically, a zonal band of positive wind stress curl (WSC) with a 10° meridional width was exhibited along the ITCZ. A southward shift of the positive WSC band during the El Niño phase induced a negative (positive) WSC anomaly along the northern (southern) portion of the ITCZ, and vice versa during the La Niña phase. This meridional dipole accounted for more than 25 % of interannual variances of the WSC anomalies (WSCAs), based on analysis of the period 1993–2008. The negative (positive) WSCA in the northern portion of the ITCZ during the El Niño (La Niña) phase was collocated with a positive (negative) sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) that propagated westward as a Rossby wave all the way to the western North Pacific. This finding indicates that this off-equatorial Rossby wave is induced by the WSCA around the ITCZ. Our analysis of a 1.5-layer reduced gravity model revealed that the Rossby waves are mostly explained by wind stress forcing, rather than by reflection of an equatorial Kelvin wave on the eastern coastal boundary. The off-equatorial Rossby wave had the same SSHA polarity as the equatorial Kelvin wave, and generation of a phase-preserving Rossby wave without the Kelvin wave reflection was explained by meridional movement of the ITCZ. Thus, the ITCZ acts as an atmospheric bridge that connects the equatorial and off-equatorial oceanic waves.     

Suspended particles near the bottom in Osaka Bay

The vertical distributions of suspended particles in Osaka Bay were measured by using anin situ beam attenuation meter. The concentration of suspended particles near the bottom increases rapidly toward the bottom where size of sediment is in a range of silt. The settling velocity of suspended particles near the bottom was measured with the use of a settling tower in the laboratory. The settling velocity of the suspended particles with diameter from 10 to 100m is 2×10^–3cm s^–1 to 5×10^–2cm s^–1. The density of the particles ranges from 2.0 to 1.1 and decreases with increasing particle diameter.     

Morphology of intergranular pores and wetting angles in pelitic schists studied by transmission electron microscopy

In pelitic schists composed mainly of quartz and albite grains, the morphology of intergranular pores, which were filled with water, was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Although some pores are defined by crystallographic planes (F-face), most of their form has an ideal shape determined by interface tensions between grains and fluid. High-resolution TEM observations demonstrate that pore-free regions at grain boundaries are tight even at the nanometer scale, showing that the wetting angle is larger than 0° in this rock. The pore distribution in two-grain junctions can be compared to a "necklace microstructure" developed by instability of a fluid film along the boundary induced by microcracking. Wetting angles for pores located at grain edges of quartz and albite decrease in the order albite/albite, quartz/quartz, and quartz/albite. The quartz/quartz wetting angle in a calcite-free sample is smaller than that in a calcite-containing sample. This angle also changes due to grain misorientation. Our results confirm that solid-solid and solid-fluid interfacial energies control the geometry of intergranular fluid in natural rocks.     

Waveform inversion of mantle Love waves:the Born seismogram approach

Summary. Normal mode theory, extended to the slightly laterally heterogeneous earth by the first-order Born approximation, is applied to the waveform inversion of mantle Love wave (200–500 s) for the Earth's lateral heterogeneity at l = 2 and a spherically symmétric anelasticity ( Q _μ) structure. The data are from the Global Digital Seismograph Network (GDSN). The l =2 pattern is very similar to the results of other studies that used either different méthods, such as phase velocity measurements and multiplet location measurements, or a different data set, such as mantle Rayleigh waves from different instruments. The results are carefully analysed for variance reduction and are most naturally explained by heterogeneity in the upper 420 km. Because of the poor resolution of the data set for the deep interior, however, a fairly large heterogeneity in the transition zones, of the order of up to 3.5 per cent in shear wave velocity, is allowed. It is noteworthy that Love waves of this period range cannot constrain the structure below 420 km and thus any model presented by similar studies below this depth are likely to be constrained by Rayleigh waves (spheroidal modes) only.
The calculated modal Q values for the obtained Q _μ model fall within the error bars of the observations. The result demonstrates the discrepancy of Rayleigh wave Q and Love wave Q and indicates that care must be taken when both Rayleigh and Love wave data, including amplitude information, are inverted simultaneously.
Anomalous amplitude inversions of G2 and G3, for example, are observed for some source-receiver pairs. This is due to multipathing effects. One example near the epicentral region, which is modelled by the obtained l = 2 heterogeneity, is shown.     

Seasonal cycle of manganese in seawater in Harima Sound

Vertical and horizontal distributions of manganese in Harima Sound (Harima Nada, Seto Inland Sea) were measured in August and December 1979. High concentrations of dissolved and particulate manganese were found in bottom waters in August, suggesting that the bottom enrichment is probably due to the diffusion of dissolved manganese out of the sediment. From measured distributions, we estimate the annual flux of manganese at the sediment-water interface to be more than 800 tons per year, if Harima Sound is a closed system for manganese.